"Monster High," Scarah told me. "You have to go back."

"What?" I exclaimed. "I thought it was destroyed."

"More like 'caved in on itself'," she explained. "The library—everything—would've sunken into the catacombs."

"But why me?" I prodded. "Why should I go there?"

"You know more about what affected you," she said. "I'll tell you the name of the books before you go."

"What good reason is there to leave?" I asked. "Without telling anyone the truth about it, I mean."

The Banshee's daughter brought a hand up to her chin. "Hm," she brought her hand down. "Not sure. You have any good excuses?"

A record scratched before I had the chance to respond. Everyone froze when the music stopped and turned their attention to the monster at the DJ booth.

Torchlight reflected off him, and his bright eyes fiery and abnormally bright amidst his azure skin. He wore black jeans and a red dress shirt, a black tie loosely placed around his neck. He shifted uncomfortably and cleared his throat before he spoke.

"Heeey," Holt half-sang. "First off, I wanna say sorry 'bout not doing this earlier. And I get that it's been a while but," he saw me and grinned, "I couldn't say no to royalty."

All eyes turned towards me, and I gave a small wave.

"'Cause we all know the world sucks," Holt said, sounding more like his old self as he spoke with a smile, "but that doesn't mean that we have no reason to enjoy it! And I think we all know there's no better way to enjoy unlife than a party!"

Everyone burst into cheers. Holt yelled over the crowd, "Tonight, we're here to show that we got enough to be happy about! That the future is ours!" He grinned broadly as everyone cheered louder. Then he started up a track. Holt beamed at the response he was getting. He turned up the volume and shouted encouragingly over the voices, "Now let's party!"

-.-.-.-

The party sprang to life as soon Holt had taken over the DJ booth. Everyone had gone wild dancing and even singing in unison—now that was fun. Lost in the moment, it had felt like I was really connected to it all. It was as if nothing had happened. That I never woke up in this strange world and this was just a regular, fun party. As it went on, the beat of the music dulled and the pulse thrummed in my ears. My legs swayed and I couldn't stop my eyelids' incessant fluttering.

"Nefera." The voice was high and feminine. Familiar. "You can't."

I recognized it. Whisp...

Then came a harsher, almost broken voice, "Not without your help I can't."

Nefera.

I couldn't resist anymore. My eyes slammed shut.


It has been six days since Nefera became Whisp's finder. When she was summoned, the genie expected nothing more than another vapid wish that would make her happy. She wondered how much longer her happiness would last than the wish before. But when Whisp appeared beside her finder, the mummy had a steely look on her face.

"Follow me," she said.

Whisp knew better than to question her and followed her down the staircase beneath her pyramid home. Once they made it down, the genie was stunned at the sight before her: rows and rows of ancient amulets, charms, and idols splayed out on shelves before her. Nefera spent some time finding what she was looking for, but the moment she returned with a sparkly green charm and a gaudy golden amulet, Whisp knew this would be nothing like Nefera's other wishes. Magic like this was dangerous. The stronger and bigger the spell, the more severe the curse that came from using it.

"It's school gore-rientation day at Monster High," Nefera said, clutching the artifacts to her chest. "My sister was supposed to help, but she has a monster cold."

Whisp felt a sense of relief. "You're trying to heal her—"

"No," Nefera snapped. "I want to use her." She started up the stairs. "Meet me in Cleo's room."

"Nefera... you can't."

She stared straight at her. "Not without your help I can't."

Whisp reluctantly complied. She tried to ignore Cleo's chattering on the phone. Whatever Nefera had planned was not good—Whisp felt it in her gut.

"She's going to repeat her senior year," Cleo said. "She cheated! But what else would you expect from Nefera?"

As if on cue, she barged into the room, and began to rub the charm. The genie wished there was something she could do to stop it.

"Genie!" Nefera yelled as the charm activated while Cleo stood before her, wide-eyed. "I wish this charm won't curse me!"

Whisp did as she was told, but she had no idea how her genie magic would compete with this power. She couldn't predict what would happen, but somehow, Nefera knew. Her body collapsed, and Whisp heard her finder's pretentious tone in the voice of the younger mummy.

Cleo.

"This will have to do," Nefera said, staring down at herself.

"I don't understand," Whisp said. "What did you do?"

Her finder lifted the charm off the floor. "This allows its caster to always be lucky." She looked down at her fallen body. "Your magic prevented the charm from cursing me, and I thought it might be like this."

"You thought?"

"Hoped," Nefera corrected, glowering through Cleo's blue eyes. "I may not be in my own body but... At least it's my sister and not me suffering."

"Suffering?" Whisp knelt by the fallen Egyptian princess. "How? She's unconscious."

Nefera was silent until she said, "The curse was an eternal slumber." She tucked away the green charm and took out the golden amulet. "I'm going to take her body to the tomb grandmummy set up for us on the mountain," she stated. "I'll be back in an hour. We're going to gore-rientation."

Again, Whisp reluctantly complied, but not before sneaking a trip down to the room full of artifacts. Nearly a minute before she had to leave, Whisp finally found what she was looking for.

When they arrived at Monster High, Nefera wanted to go someplace else entirely. She took Whisp out to an abandoned farmhouse near the school.

"Remember," the genie said, "you have two more wishes left."

Nefera didn't snap back. Instead, she stilled. Then she said, "I wish that this amulet wouldn't curse me once I use it."

Whisp folded her hands together and did what she was told. Yet she couldn't help but wonder what her finder would use the final wish for.

Once inside the farmhouse, Nefera took out the amulet. Whisp sensed its power the moment Nefera began to activate it. The earth seemed to as well. The whole floor quaked beneath her. Blinding blue light shone from the amulet and shot through the roof of the farmhouse, spreading in the sky like a pool of light.

"Genie!" Nefera shouted. "I wish to be placed in the best monster. The best monster to get what I want done."

Although Whisp had no idea what this wish meant, she clasped her hands together and hoped for the best. The light ceased and Cleo's body fell to the floor. Whisp had no idea where Nefera was, but she took the chance while she had it. She took out two small golden charms she found from the artifact room. Earrings. She crept up to Cleo's fallen body and gently placed her head in her lap. Carefully, she replaced her earrings. "Whoever you are," she said, "this will help you."

In her other hand, Whisp clutched a matching set. She put them on just as the door burst open.

"Not my first choice," Nefera's tone was prominent, "but it'll get the job done." She stepped into the light.

Whisp gasped. She looked back at Cleo's body on the floor.

Frankie.

Nefera strode over to her and picked up the fallen amulet. "Now the monster world will be free of anything normie."

She turned to Whisp. "Shouldn't you be back in your lamp?" Frankie's bicolored eyes glared at her. "Go."

And with that, Whisp returned to her lamp, wondering just what mess she had partaken in this time.


I woke up sluggishly, a post-dream headache greeting me like the one before. That dream... That dream was insane. It was like Whisp was trying to reach out to me. As curious as I was about the specifics, I learned another important detail in the dream: Nefera's body was in the same place where I had woken up. Cleo would be there. If I could get there, then I could at least get Scarah to switch Cleo back into her own body. Then again, there was the problem of the eternal slumber curse...

I jolted, and my headache slipped away. I looked around. It was still dark outside. I hadn't realized where I had woken up. "Is the party over?" I called out.

"She's awake," Draculaura said as she bent over me.

I was lying on the ground, the dry grass cushioning my slumped over self. I craned my neck up and saw the DJ booth looming over me. Now I remembered. I had gotten so tired while dancing I must've passed out. Someone must've dragged me over to the booth so I'd have something to lean on.

"Party's been over," Heath answered, crouching down beside Draculaura.

"Real let down if you ask me." I looked back and saw Holt coming around the two monsters. "Right when it was really getting started."

"Where is everybody?" I asked them.

"Oh, they all went to bed," Draculaura said.

"Even Deuce?" I asked. I didn't see why Deuce would leave his ghoulfriend sleeping outside like this.

Heath looked away. "Uh, yeah. He has this big job coming up and he needs his rest so..." He looked back at me. "Sorry."

"But he wanted to stay," Draculaura assured me. "We would've taken you back to your room but he told us not to disturb you."

I nodded in understanding. Deuce wasn't getting much sleep lately and he needed to be prepared for the search he told me about.

"Anyway," Heath said, standing up, "it's already past four in the morning so," he yawned, "I'm gonna get some sleep in before breakfast. I'm cooking, you know."

"Unfortunately," Draculaura muttered.

Heath ignored her and ran off toward the cabins, leaving me with Draculaura and Holt. They shared a glance.

"Well don't look at me," Draculaura said after their unspoken conversation.

Holt let out a heavy sigh. He begrudgingly approached me and knelt down. Next thing I know, he's carrying me bridal style.

"Damn, you're light," he grunted.

I didn't see why this was necessary. "Why—?"

"Deuce asked for one of us to carry you back," Draculaura said. "Heath left and, sorry, but there's no way I can carry you."

We started moving forward. "I can walk on my own," I protested, pressing my hands against Holt's stomach as I tried to break myself free.

He stopped abruptly and, for a second, I thought he was going to set me down. But he continued walking as if nothing happened. "You liked the party?" he asked.

"Yeah," I replied, "it was a lot more fun when you started DJ-ing."

I noticed Holt smile as I looked up at him; he seemed satisfied with himself. "Thanks."

He kept moving as Draculaura led the way to the ghouls' building. But when Holt wouldn't put me down once we made it there, I started resisting but neither one of us budged. When Draculaura opened the door, Holt lit up his hair. I was still amazed he could do that.

As we walked in the hall, Draculaura made to her room before we did, giving a small wave and a "good night" when she closed the door. I started resisting being carried again. I didn't need to be no matter what Deuce said. It's true that Cleo would—she was used to servants and would probably sincerely appreciate Deuce's request for her to be carried, but me? My parents stitched legs onto me for a reason.

So I started clawing at his shirt, then he ran towards the door to my room, and I instinctively clung onto him.

Holt somehow opened it and hurriedly dropped me onto my bed with a bounce.

"I'm never gonna carry you again," he heaved.

"I thought I could—" I cut myself off when I noticed he was stifling a laugh. A slow grin appeared on my face as I came to a realization. "You're ticklish."

"Pfft," he scoffed, the smile on his face proving otherwise. "Want me to turn out the lights?"

I shook my head. It was almost morning and I could sleep in the light.

He nodded, walking over to the door and holding it open before he left. "Oh, uh, Deuce asked me to watch over you while he's on the search for a couple days." Holt walked out of the room a bit. "Just so you know."

"Oh." Deuce was being awfully protective. "Don't worry about me."

Relief flashed on his face, and he smirked. "We'll see," he said, walking out.

Letting out a yawn, I hopped off my bed and slid out of my red party dress, kicking my shoes to the corner. Left in only Cleo's wraps, I jumped back onto my bed and once again fell asleep, the soft orange blanket bringing me a lot more comfort than it had before.